Every time I blast the rune powder and clear the debris, I'm forced into combat and no cutscene plays. I've talked to the slave master first and she tells me to blow it up. Everyone backs away and shouts at me to "blast the thing to bits." I've reloaded and tried different things to try to surpass whatever's triggering the combat, including making everyone in my party invisible, but it's no use.
If I target the rocks instead of the vial, I get a warning instead of immediate combat, but this does not set off the powder and clear the debris.
Is anyone else having this problem?